Yahoo! News' Michael Calderone is reporting that the attorney for Gizmodo's parent company, Gawker Media, is hashing out a strategy that would essentially turn back the clock on the search warrant that allowed Silicon Valley police to enter the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen last Friday and seize computers and documents as part of a probe into a stolen iPhone prototype he had obtained.

The attorney, Thomas Burke, told Yahoo! News he's trying to sell the D.A. on a process by which "the search warrant is treated more like a subpoena," which police should have opted for in the first place.

Calderone writes:

In a subpoena situation, Gizmodo may be asked for information from the seized computers that falls within specific parameters. Then, Gizmodo could either turn over that information or object, bringing the debate to court. So whether Gizmodo complies would depend on what's being asked for, and whether that information would reveal confidential information. "It's impossible to assert whether they're going to get anything," Burke said.

"In the meantime, they don't get to see it," Burke said of information on the seized computers. "They don't get to touch it. They don't get to manipulate it-as if they hadn't taken it."